The field of the invention is connectors for assembling two members without the use of nails or screws.
Assembling members with mechanical connectors are well known, however, for the most part the prior art is either too complicated to use or not strong enough to hold large members such as building structures together. There are connectors for furniture and panels, but the prior art is devoid of mechanical fasteners to hold together building structures. It is this area of connectors which the present invention finds its principle application.
In the building filed many structures are joined in a T-shape or some other angle. There are also situations where a connection is used for joining corners and anchoring structures in place. The prior art connectors will not fill all the needs, whereas the present invention is universally adaptable to any of these situations.
The following prior art U.S. patents are known to the inventor:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,581,816, SCHLUETER; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,862, SYGNATOR; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,645, GIOVANNETTI; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,003, POND; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,649, ROCK; PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,831, LAUTENSCHLAGER;
A review of these patents shows that some of the patents relate to joining panels at right angles. The mechanical connectors for joining the panels take up space at the corner connection which may interfere with the structure. The patents to Pond, U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,003; Rock, U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,649, and Lautenschlager, U.S. Pat. No. 4,549,831 show mechanical connectors for right angle or corner connections.
A bolt connector is shown in Schlueter, U.S. Pat. No. 2,581,816. The mechanical connector uses a cam for drawing the two members together. An Allen wrench rotates the cam into a locking position.
The patent to Giovannette, U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,645, shows joining panels where one panel has a circular opening intersected by a bored hole. The other panel has a headed shank, which projects into the bored hole of the first panel. A cam having been inserted in the circular opening engages the shank, and when rotated locks the two panels together.
The invention relates to a mechanical connector for joining together structual members having universal applications.
In general, the mechanical connector is double ended, that is, what one end has as parts, so does the other. Also, the structual members to be joined have circular openings and intersecting bore holes. A threaded rod is cut to fit into the bore holes of the structural members and extended into the circular openings. A pair of nuts are threaded on either end of the rod. The most important part of the mechanical connector is a cam socket which has an L-shaped slot cut in it and a cam cross-section, where the slot allows the cam socket to slip on the threaded rod and rotate to tighten the fastener.
To start the nut on the threaded rod a special tool with a threaded end is used. The nut is first threaded on to the tool and then inserted into the circular opening to align the nut with the threaded end. The nut is rotated from the tool to the threaded rod. Without the tool putting the nut on the rod is very difficult.
It is an object of the invention to provide a mechanical connector for joining structual members.
Another object of the invention is to provide a mechanical connector that is contained within the joined structural members without protruding beyond the members.
Still another object is to provide a mechanical connector which can be used with large or small structures.
Yet another object is to provide a mechanical connector that is inexpensive to manufacture.